Sept 08: We'll soon be weaning, and of a full nights sleep we're dreaming ......

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Hello ladies.

Pull up a chair, grab a biscuit and lets start talking about puree vs blw and sleep deprivation

Omg how scary debi i hope A is ok?
the top of our tray comes off easily, when f archs his back it falls off.

What a night last night f woke at 12 2 ,5 and 7 , im so tired today , im having a early night.

debi our bumbo tray top is firmly attached to the bottom, I remove the whole thing from the bumbo each time. Not that he's that happy sitting in it anyway...Sorry about the choking though!
Off to bond with dMIL while ignoring the screaming habdabs from dd. Think she's got cabin fever after 3 days of this potty training thang!

Barnpot & plusonemore I could rant forever about P&C parking spaces! Why do lazy arses the general public think they can park in P&C.

I have tackled 2 people about it - both couples who did not have children and happened to come back to their car when i was unloading C. I did not shout and remained polite but firm. One man said 'he did not realise' and the other woman (her bloke remained in car being silent) said they could not find a parking space (in a giant Asda FFS). i said, 'no you were just being lazy weren't you?'!!

But what really, really gets me is when elderly people, who clearly need the disabled space, think that if there are no disabled spaces left they can just park in P&C space . I know they have special needs but if i cannot get my child into the car, what am i supposed to do - leave the car seat in the road while I move the car!!! I would never dream of parking in disabled space.

After swimming the other week, i could not get the car seat into its base as there was a car too close so I had to put it on the back seat unstrapped from the other side, and quickly reverse the car out a little bit and then get out and whip it round to the other side.

Grr - rant over!

ninja i fully intend to give C cuddles over the shoulder when she is 18 - despite her protests!!!

Sending big hugs to Debithescot and meglet

Feeling very good today too, as i am the only one in my mum & baby group who has not weaned before 26 weeks and i keep gently dropping in BLW into conversation. HV now despises me ('boo hoo' ).

Well, we've all started meeting up on Wed afternoons at each other's houses (= no idiot HV) and today 2 mums asked me about BLW and asked if I would bring some info from t'internet for them along to group tomorrow. Have got lots of +ve articles and Rapley's overview (incl Independent article) and have done copy for HV as well, just in case she can read.....

Oh don't get me started with parking either, my DP goes bloody mental! When we were last in Sainsbury's we couldn't park in any baby spaces but we saw a couple getting out of their car, they were old, no child. DP shouted 'Where's your child then?' and the chap came out with ....... 'I'm disabled!' Now how about that eh! I nearly fell over, just imagine if we had parked in a disabled bay, what a bloody cheek, and what a wanker!

Urgh, I was so sick last night. No idea why, can't think what I might have had (made chicken stock, which I'm now too scared to use in case it's tainted or something) that DP didn't have.
DP ended up doing all the night feeds with formula, so I could have puking time, then I had proper hot and cold sweats, and ended up getting less sleep than I do when T's up and down all night! Feeling a teensy bit better this morning, and DP's going into work late so he can help out a bit.

Both dp and I had a 24 hour puking thing a couple of weeks ago and luckily it wasn't passed onto ds. I'm hoping it's the same for you Hopefully. Try and get some rest (!) and have a pj day with T today.

Yay, I'm a different woman! We ALL slept 11-6:30 last night.

Sorry about all the puking!

its amazing what a bit of sleep can do isnt it? good for you snow. We also had a better night, Alfie only woke at 4.30 and then went back to sleep after a feed until 7.45

hopefully you have my deepest sympathies, i hat sick bugs. Especially with kiddies to look after poor you

I wonder if it was because she spent the WHOLE day rolling onto her front, practising her new skill over and over?

Glad you had a good night too plusone!

Poor little T - I hadn't fed him since 7pm yesterday, and I actually got a tiny bit engorged this morning (v unusual for me). After I fed him, he threw up everywhere! Was totally unconcerned, sucking his sicky hands , so I guess it was just the enormous feed rather than him getting whatever bug thing I have.

I too have challenged people over Parent and baby spots. I've had 'I'm only here for a minute', I'm collecting a child (well where's your child seat then?)

A=ctually I would have sympathy for some one who couldn't get a disabled space

So sorry about puking.

I have a terrible dilemma. I had a really frank discussion with my obstertric physio yesterday regarding my ongoing SPD recovery, and the prospect of me risking another pregnancy (DH and I would love to have two children if we can). She was very realistic and honest with me, and said I have to be prepared for the same thing all over again, if not worse. i.e. agonising pain, in a wheelchair, unable to lift, sit up, walk, etc. Also because of my age I really have to start ttc by about Sept, which is my goal. She agreed I am dong all the right things with taking my recovery seriously and progressing so well.

BUUUTTT.... she said I have to think about giving up BF!! She has been really supportive of me BF, and said she almost never recommends giving up. But in my particular case the SPD was so bad, and I have such a short recovery time window left before I aim to ttc. She said my body needs at least 3 normal cycles with a period in order to give the hormones a fighting chance of returning to normal before I enter another PG, otherwise my pubis ligaments will keep being lax and not have a chance of strengthening before the next PG. I know she is talking sense, and I really believe she would not recommend giving up BF unless she honestly thought it was necessary.

I so want to keep BF now that I have got this far, but now have to face the prospect of giving up by June, which will be 9 months. So I suppose that means I have to start reducing it by about next month... I feel so bummed at the prospect after my success at getting through the thrush. I now feel like I have finally "hit my stride" as a BFer and I love it.

I am SO SORRY this is so long, and all about me. It's just that I seem to be facing some really big questions atm.

Hi all - hope all is well.

Things are going pretty well here with Effy and pretty poorly with me. The good stuff first.

Although we haven't had her tested yet (referral has just come through for March, Effy's been thriving since the doctor put her onto the prescription formula. She loves her bottle and gets really excited when she sees it. She's putting on twice as much weight as before. We've also started weaning with baby rice and porridge, which she loves, but as soon as her grip is a little better we're going to go full into BLW.

I did BLW with DS and he really did fantastically well with it. Effy has eaten banana so far but she struggles to pick it up. Also until we get her tested I daren't try her on things that DS had, like cheese. I've just bought a lot of fruit and veg to try her with though as she's so interested in everything that I'm sure as soon as her grip is better, she'll go great guns at it. It's a fab way to wean for those of you who are considering it.

As for me, well I got made redundant last week! I was just about to go back to work as well (Effy starts nursery next week). I've cut both kids down to three days, starting in March, and am appealing the decision but not expecting much to come of it. I'm also asking them to give me more money as I was a contractor in the same role for three years before I became permanent so I believe they owe me right back to my contract start date. I wasn't quite ready to have to start looking for new jobs but I've really been given no choice!

Ponymum I think you are more than entitled to a super long post about yourself.

It is easy for me to say this, as I've had no trouble with SPD or breast feeding, but I think 9 months is a bloody good achievement, and you will have started to wean the LO anyway. If you are determined to have another child (and why should't you?), it is only sensible to try and avoid the agony you went through with your previous pregnancy.

To be honest, as I HATE expressing with a boundless passion and am also not very good at it AND will be going back to work, I intend to start introducing 1 formula feed soon, then start the weaning process at 26 weeks. By 9 months I will be doing a morning and a night feed only, if my supply permits.

I decided not to go back to work after 6 months due to my rubbish expressing skills, so I'll give myself an additional 3 months to wean and introduce formula, and go back when D is 9 months.

Does this plan sound feasible/sensible to ladies with more than one LO?

BTW, can someone recommend a good weaning book? Ideally something that talks about when to introduce what, and combines BLW with traditional stuff.

Not asking much, am i?

ponymum I don't know anything really about SPD but I do know quite a bit about bfing and ttcing and I'm afraid she's got a point.

However, there might be a compromise. You don't necessarily have to give up completely. After 6 months you could begin to reduce feeds and supplement with formula (or cows milk if your LO's diet is exceptional) via a freeflowing cup, with the aim of keeping morning and night feeds.

Your periods should return with these infrequent feeds and past 6 months your breasts can certainly cope and adjust to this without loosing your milk.

Can you talk to her about the possibility of this? My only hesitation is if the hormone released during feeding is one you are trying to rid your body of, although it will be made in much smaller quantities.

Perhaps start a thread in bottle * breastfeeding. I for one would love to see the stumpted faces of all the pro-bfers (spesh if you put 'allowed' in the title hee hee)

However, you might get some helpful info/advice.

For those of you introducing formula after 6 months I recommend using a free flowing cup.

ponymum I feel for you - but 9 months will be an amazing start. How's the expressing? Could you express enough for a feed a day for a while after?

Pacita I went back to work at 6 months and was amazed what my body could adapt to. As DD never took a bottle I gave up expressing after a couple of months and my body coped with feeding in the day some days and not others.

Sunshine sorry to hear about the job - that's bad news, but good to hear Effy's doing so well.

Oh god, I feel so awful for my whinging now! Lots of you with far worse problems.

Ponymum how heartbreaking to have to make that decision. Do you know how long you would have BF for if TTCing were not an issue? Can you talk to your obstetric physio about reducing the BFing sooner rather than later (but not giving up) and seeing how that affects your hormones, as Snowlight says?

Sunshine sorry to hear about your redundancy. How is the job market for your kind of work at the moment? Do you think you'll struggle to find something good? Hope you manage to get a bit extra for redundancy - I assume they've done all the correct things re upholding your rights as a woman on maternity leave?

Finally managed to eat something, feeling a bit better.

Oh man everyone's having a rubbish time at the moment, feeling very very for redundant, puking and difficult-decision-making chums
ponymum 9 months is a really really good innings, your dd will prob be well established on food by then and you're giving up for the really exciting reason of ttc. I know its so hard after the incredible lengths you went to to feed through the thrush, but hopefully you'll be bf another LO soon

ponymum 9 months is a fantastic amount of time, it will be different by then anyway.

sunshine sorry for you, hope it all works out as you want

this is the cup i just ordered, i think it will be a nice transition from bottle to tommee tippee type cup

Forgot to add Ponymum, that you'll be giving your pfb a chum which is a lovely thing to do, and although not quite the same, you can mix ebm with cows and stick it on your pfb's cereal when you are bfing no.2.

well after about 5 nights of sleeping through or very nearly sleeping through we had a rubbish night last night and now I'm shattered. Woke A at 10.45 as usual for his bottle feed but he wouldn't take it, warmed it up again but still didn't want it. So i tried to feed him myself but he wasn't interested in that either. he wasn't upset apart from when we tried to force a teat or boob in his mouth so eventually gave up and put him in bed. It was about midnight by this point. He went to sleep fine but then unsurprisingly woke at 2.30 starving, had a feed, took ages to settle then woke again at 5.30 and then at 7.30.
He had swede at teatime so am wondering if that had given him a sore tummy.